Chapter 347 Doubting Life
“Brother, open the door!”
The knock on the door ended and Lin Yue’s voice rang outside.
"It's brother. Did he catch a prey?" Xiulan asked curiously.
"I'll find out when I go take a look." Lin Heng said as he stood up to take a look.
Opening the gate to the yard, he saw his eldest brother standing at the door, carrying a large wild boar with brown and gray hair on his shoulders.
Lin Yue said excitedly: "The trap we set worked today, but this wild boar is not big."
"Come into the house and talk!" Lin Heng quickly let his eldest brother in, but he didn't Stop a few other people who came in to watch the fun.
"This wild boar is probably only over a hundred years old, a bit too small." Lin Yue put the wild boar down and said.
Lin Heng smiled and said: "Okay, this size is the most suitable."
"Yes, a wild boar as big as this is the most delicious."
"No matter how big it is, it will be too old to bite the flesh."
A few old men watching nearby agreed, and their words They seem to be very knowledgeable about what they eat.
When Lin Heng went to get the scale, Lin Yue told everyone about his hunting process. In fact, the wild boar was already dying when he went there. Lin Heng's big clamp dug into the flesh and blood. The wild boar had lost a lot of blood due to its violent struggle. Even if he didn't make up for that shot, it would be difficult for it to survive.
After taking the scale, Lin Heng smiled and said: "One hundred and twelve pounds, which is pretty good."
Autumn pig fat. The hair of this wild boar is gray. At first glance, it looks like a young wild boar that is one or two years old. The meat quality is the best.
Lin Yue nodded and said: "That's okay. I'll go back and ask your sister-in-law to boil water first. You can also boil some here. We can kill the pigs later."
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded in agreement, took Xiulan into the house, then went to the kitchen to boil two pots of water, and then boiled a bucket of water in a wooden barrel with the heat so fast.
The few old men and women who entered the house to watch did not want to leave, so Lin Heng poured them a glass of boiling water and ignored them. Several people found it a bit boring not to kill the pig for a long time, so they ran into the house and took a look at Lin Heng's freezer before reluctantly leaving.
Lin Heng saw them leaving and quickly closed the door, but it was not locked.
"Do you want to freeze this wild boar after killing it?" Xiulan asked while looking at Xiaoxia.
Lin Heng took a look at the wild boar and said, "Just keep some fresh meat and dry the rest into bacon and then store it. The weather is now very suitable for drying bacon."
Although this is a wild boar Although it is a female wild boar, the fresh meat still tastes great. Sun-cured meat can not only retain its own flavor, but also reduce the smell.
Another thing is that the heavy salt in bacon can kill parasites and bacteria in wild boar meat.
"You think the same as me." Xiulan said with a smile.
The fresh taste of wild boar meat is not particularly good, but she still likes to make it into bacon before eating it. The advantage of the freezer is that worms will not grow when the bacon is frozen.
"Dad, are we still making Qiuli ointment today?" Xiaoxia grabbed the Tangli in the dustpan and asked, tilting her head.
"Let's do it. We'll do it in the afternoon after the pig is killed." Lin Heng picked up a Tang pear and took a bite.
Compared with before, the sweetness of Tangli is much higher now, but it is still a bit astringent.
When the water was almost boiling, Father Lin and Mother Lin came over.
"Such a big wild boar is awesome." Father Lin turned over the wild boar and said with a smile.
“There is no need to kill pigs for the New Year.” Mother Lin said happily.
"The water is boiling, let's soup the pig first." Lin Yue reminded with a smile.
Then they went to the old house and brought a big wooden bucket over. The big wooden bucket, which had not been soaked in water for a long time, leaked badly. Fortunately, the pigs are relatively young and the soup is ready in ten minutes, so the hair can be plucked out easily.
The next step is to hang it up, disembowel it, and cut the pork.
This pig had a greater credit for being able to hit Lin Yuezhan. He advocated an equal share, but Lin Heng naturally did not want to take advantage of his eldest brother.
The final result of the discussion was to give him the pig head and suet, and the remaining two people would share it equally.
In terms of internal organs, Lin Heng got the pig intestines, liver and lungs, and gave the small intestine, pig heart and pig belly to his big brother.
The pork is divided equally, divided into two halves from the spine, half for each person.
"Brother, put these two pieces of meat in your freezer and freeze them for me. They will be delicious and fresh."
After the meat was divided, Lin Yue held up two pieces of pork belly and said with a smile.
"That's no problem." Lin Heng cut it into small pieces and put it in a plastic bag to store separately.
His family also left about ten kilograms of fresh meat, not whole pieces, but all lean meat.
This wild boar eats well in autumn and has a lot of fat, but the fresh fat is not delicious.
While helping Lin Heng salt the pork, Mother Lin asked, "I got a lot of fennel seeds this year, do you want them?"
"Yes, I'll go get it with you later." Lin Heng nodded. This time I used light salt for the pork, because I have a freezer so I don’t have to worry about it going bad if the salt is too little.
After the pork is rubbed with salt, it must be piled in a basin to marinate overnight before it can be taken out to be dried or smoked.
"The pig intestines are also turned, so let's go back first." Father Lin said as he entered the house carrying the processed pig intestines.
Over at Hongfeng Mountain, the workers called were still clearing land, and he couldn't leave for too long.
"I'm with you guys." Lin Heng gave them a piece of meat so they could fry it for lunch. It happened that his third father, uncle, and others were also there.
When Lin Heng came back with cumin from Hongfeng Mountain, Xiulan also prepared a lot of spices for him.
“You crush these and apply them on the meat to make the bacon more delicious.”
Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said, she was more experienced in handling bacon than Lin’s mother.
"Okay." Lin Heng rinsed the spices, lit a charcoal fire and roasted them slowly, and finally pounded them into powder with a stone mortar and applied it to the pork.
At noon, they fried wild boar and ate rice. Wild boar meat still has to be stir-fried with spicy and sour radish, which can reduce the fishy smell of pork while retaining its unique flavor.
The hot and sour ones go better with rice, but Xiaoxia always sucks on the spicy ones, and like a baby, she drinks honey to relieve the spiciness.
“This wild boar meat is not bad, quite tender.” Xiulan commented after eating.
Lin Heng nodded and said: "It should be last year's wild boar, and the taste is quite good. It may be because he eats more chestnuts."
Compared with the wild boar he ate before, This wild boar meat tastes strangely much better.
Xiulan said: "Since it's not bad, let's keep more fresh pork."
"I'll cut some more and put them in the refrigerator later." Lin Heng nodded.
In the afternoon, Lin Heng went around Hongfeng Mountain to help with some work, mainly chatting with Lin Hai and Li Shiwei.
After returning home, I started making Qiuli ointment. I bought both Luo Han Guo and Sichuan Fritillary scallops.
Wash the Tang pears and pour them into a pot and boil them until they are soft. Then take them out and mash them with a stone mortar and put them into the pot. Add Luo Han Guo, ginger, red dates, and some Sichuan clams and cook them together.
Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. It took an entire afternoon to cook, and Xiaoxia was tired from waiting to eat.
Xiulan was responsible for stirring, and Lin Heng took the time to chop the pork ribs and pork legs into small pieces with an ax and put them in the freezer for storage.
Pork can be made into delicious bacon, but pork legs and ribs are not good. They must be fresh and cooked to taste best. After finishing the ribs and pork legs, Lin Heng processed and cut the fat intestines, and preliminarily fried them.
“Husband, do you think it’s almost done after it’s cooked like this?” Xiulan shouted as the sun was about to set.
Lin Heng came over and saw that Qiuli paste was already thick and looked like summer honey.
"It's absolutely fine." Lin Heng nodded. He took the pot away from the fire, then took some gauze and filtered it before putting it into a glass bottle.
“Two nearly fifty kilograms of Tangli made three bottles of Qiuli paste.” Lin Heng said while looking at the finished Qiuli paste.
This bottle is 300 ml. Three bottles are less than one liter.
Xiulan took a spoon and tasted a little surprise and said: "I thought it was very sour, but I didn't expect it tasted very good, sour and sweet."
"Mom, me too I want it~" Xiaoxia hugged her mother's legs coquettishly. She had been waiting for a long time.
Xiulan scooped up a spoonful and blew it to her. Xiaoxia immediately beamed: "It's delicious!"
"Try it." Xiulan fed Lin Heng another spoonful.
After tasting it, Lin Heng nodded: "It's a little sour, you can add some honey."
There is no doubt about the strong aroma of Qiuli paste, it is much richer than the one you bought. , this kind of Tangli made with a hint of Tangli fragrance, seems to be more delicious than ordinary pears.
"This allows mom to make some too. There are still a lot of Tangli pears on the mountain." Xiulan said with a smile. Tangli pears are still standing on the branches in winter, and the ones that fall to the ground basically don't matter. rotten.
Lin Heng agreed: "Tell her to go another day."
Put the autumn pear paste on the coffee table to cool, and they started making dinner again. They fried pig intestines with pickled radish and made a fat intestine noodles.
Get up early the next day and hang the pork to dry. You are not going to smoke it directly.
In the following days, Lin Heng took Xiulan Xiaoxia to experience some of the last lingering feelings of autumn. In addition to going to Hongfeng Mountain to help, he stayed with Xiulan and Xiaoxia.
As it gets colder and colder, trees such as cotinus and red maple are gradually shedding their leaves. There seems to be a beautiful carpet of leaves on the red maple mountain. Unfortunately, Xiulan can’t go up to see it this year. She couldn't climb such a steep slope while pregnant with twins. .
The work of clearing land is not going very fast. The work of removing tree roots and stones is very troublesome and time-consuming. Twenty people can clear nearly an acre of land in one day.
In the blink of an eye, it was already the second Sunday in November. Caiyun came back from vacation to help take care of Xiulan. Lin Heng and his elder brother went to Baishigou for two days to look for prey.
Unlike last time, this time they harvested very little. They didn't catch a single large prey in two days. Lin Heng got the most enoki mushrooms, and the only prey they caught was a hazel pheasant.
His elder brother had better luck and shot two pheasants. The other two people have not met each other, which can be said to be a failure.
"I'll come back tomorrow to see if it's true. I don't believe it." Lin Yue was a little reluctant on the way back.
"I don't recommend that you come here alone. It's too far away and it's dangerous." Lin Heng patted his elder brother on the shoulder. He wouldn't be able to come here tomorrow.
"Then I'll call someone else to join me. I'll tell you if I have any clues." Lin Yue thought for a while and said, it is indeed dangerous to be alone in the wild.
After returning home, Lin Heng hung the chicken soup on the wall, preparing to stew it for Xiulan tomorrow.
“This is quite expensive, why don’t you keep it and sell it?” Xiulan suggested.
"No need, you are more valuable than anything else." Lin Heng refused with a smile.
Xiulan was amused and smiled sweetly: "You are the best at talking."
"What I said is all the truth."
Lin Heng came over and sat next to her and listened. The fetal movement in the belly is now very obvious, and from time to time I can feel the movement of the fetus kicking its legs.
“I just don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl.” Xiulan touched her belly and sighed.
"We'll find out in two months, don't be anxious." Lin Heng said with a smile, stroking her hair.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded.
Early the next morning, Lin Heng made a charcoal fire and simmered the chicken, adding Codonopsis pilosula, red dates, chestnuts, and lotus seeds. Just stew it like this and add a little salt to make it delicious.
After stewing, Lin Heng took Xiulan for a walk towards Hongfeng Mountain. She was now in the late stages of pregnancy, nearly eight months old, and the burden on her body was getting bigger and bigger. She had to be helped to walk. With.
But it’s not a problem to stay at home all the time. Even readers can’t stand it and need to go out and walk around from time to time.
It is now November 13th, and the leaves have almost fallen off. Except for some pine forests, most of the area is bare.
Trees like ginkgo, which lose their leaves very late, can no longer hold on. Countless golden leaves fall down with a gust of wind, and the whole tree gradually becomes bare.
Xiaoxia picked up a lot of leaves and asked Lin Heng to teach her how to make flowers. After the flowers were made, they were given to her mother, which made Xiulan very happy.
When you come to Hongfeng Mountain, you can see the workers clearing wasteland halfway up the mountain from a distance. Compared with the previous days, the mountainside looks much neater now.
It is no longer as messy as before. The cleared land has been planted with ryegrass, which has grown three or four centimeters high. It is green and looks well-proportioned.
“Have all the ryegrass been planted on Hongfeng Mountain?” Xiulan asked, looking halfway up the mountain.
Lin Heng nodded: "We can't plant in the land reclamation for the time being. It's too cold. We have to plant again next spring."
Xiulan nodded and pulled Lin Heng slowly towards the breeding base.
“Ouch~”
As soon as he walked into the breeding base, Laifu let out a welcome wailing sound.
“She’s been pregnant for a month, right?” Xiulan asked curiously.
"Yes, I should give birth early next month." Lin Heng nodded and said, he was looking forward to Xiong Ba and Laifu's child. I wonder if I will inherit Xiong Ba’s wisdom.
"Why don't we take it back and feed it something good? Mom and the others are reluctant to feed it well." Caiyun looked at Laifu and said.
“Okay, I’ll bring the harvest over another day and exchange it for Laifu.” Lin Heng agreed. His mother is a person who will use rice to dip the remaining fat in the pot after frying pork, and feed the dog Very average indeed.
This generation is often said to "eat without hardship". They are very distressed about things and are unwilling to throw away expired things, even those that are seriously moldy.
But there is really no way, because they have experienced some kind of famine era where they gnawed tree bark and eaten Guanyin soil, and the habit of thrift has been engraved in their bones. It is difficult for those who have not experienced it to understand their behavior.
But compared to before, his parents have improved a lot, and they are not stubborn people yet.
After playing here for a day, Lin Heng helped with the work and Xiulan took a walk here. In the afternoon, the hazel chicken soup was stewed very well. I turned up the charcoal fire again and heated it up, so the three of us could enjoy it together. .
The days passed, and in a blink of an eye it was the third Sunday in November. Lin Heng went hunting in the mountains with his eldest brother again.
This time the direction is still towards Baishigou, and the final destination is the birch cliff where Baishigou crosses three beams. This time we stayed on the mountain for two days, hoping to catch more prey.
Winter has just entered, and the prey is still plump and active. Both of them want to bring home a muntjac or roe deer so that they can have meat for the New Year.
But things went against expectations again. Not to mention the muntjacs and robes, even the wild boar failed to be hunted. Only Lin Heng shot two grouse and Lin Yue shot three golden roosters.
"Could it be that there are no prey here?" Lin Yue began to doubt his life.
Lin Heng breathed out and said, "Maybe it's really possible."
It was really frustrating to find nothing after two days of persistence.
Lin Yue looked at the foggy sky and suggested: "Let's go to Sanchagou next Sunday."
"I have to go to the district to attend the commendation meeting. I have to wait until December." Lin Heng shook his head.
(End of this chapter)